Inventor, Aviation Pioneer. Born John Bevins Moisant in Kankakee, Illinois, he was a wealthy plantation owner in El Salavador, and became interested in aviation after watching the 1909 Reims Air Meet in France. He built his own plane, the first plane with an all-metal frame which flew only a short distance and then he enrolled in Louis Blériot's flying school to learn to fly. After only a few lessons, he bought his own Blériot monoplane and formed the Moisant International Aviators, a traveling flying circus. The troupe flew in air shows in Richmond, Virginia, Chattanooga and Memphis, Tennessee, Tupelo, Mississippi and New Orleans. On September 6, 1910, he was the first to fly the English Channel with a passenger, carrying his mechanic and a cat. During a special promotion air race in New Orleans, as he tried to land at a practice field before competing, his plane hit turbulence, went into a nose-dive, crashed and he was killed at age 37.
Inventor, Aviation Pioneer. Born John Bevins Moisant in Kankakee, Illinois, he was a wealthy plantation owner in El Salavador, and became interested in aviation after watching the 1909 Reims Air Meet in France. He built his own plane, the first plane with an all-metal frame which flew only a short distance and then he enrolled in Louis Blériot's flying school to learn to fly. After only a few lessons, he bought his own Blériot monoplane and formed the Moisant International Aviators, a traveling flying circus. The troupe flew in air shows in Richmond, Virginia, Chattanooga and Memphis, Tennessee, Tupelo, Mississippi and New Orleans. On September 6, 1910, he was the first to fly the English Channel with a passenger, carrying his mechanic and a cat. During a special promotion air race in New Orleans, as he tried to land at a practice field before competing, his plane hit turbulence, went into a nose-dive, crashed and he was killed at age 37.
Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith
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